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As we are all well aware, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged on for generations with almost daily acts of aggression committed by combatants who claim to represent the best interests of the now estranged Israeli and Palestinian people living in the Middle East.

What exactly are the consequences of exposing, and at times involving, the young to such a violent and prolonged ethnic-political conflict? According to a new study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, the young are in fact more disposed to take on the aggressive behaviors of this conflict into their own disposition.

Paul Boxer, author of the study, writes "we found that over time, exposure to all kinds of violence was linked to increased aggressive behavior among the children." Boxer continues, "(these) results have important implications for understanding how

 political struggles spill over into the everyday lives of families and children."

Parents and children were interviewed about acts of aggressive behavior which includes physical and emotional bullying, frequency of violent behavior and verbal harassment in school and at home.

The data for the study was collected through three yearly sets of interviews of 600 Palestinian-Arab families, 451 Israeli-Jewish families, and 450 Israeli-Arab families. Of the children interviewed one-third were 8 years old, one-third were 11 years old, and one-third were 14 years old. Palestinian children were found to be disproportionately affected, and more prone to, violence than Israeli children.

 This is a result of Palestinian children being more exposed violence than Israeli-Jewish children who are impacted by security checks and threats.

 The study showed that children who were 8-years-old at the start of the study, or the youngest of those interviews, were more likely than older children to act-out aggressive behavior witnessed as a result of the violence.